Courtesy Sandia Labs

A recent lawsuit asks how much radioactive waste should legally be allowed to remain over Albuquerque's aquifer

Out over the East Mesa, sitting 460 feet above the city's sole groundwater supply, five miles southeast of the Albuquerque International Sunport and just a mile east of Mesa del Sol, a large-scale residential development that will soon be popping up over the horizon, lies a piece of land with a troubling history.

I know. It seems like we rip on the Albuquerque Journal a lot here in Alibi-land. We do. And most of the time it's deserved. But this week, although our beloved daily is still hovering high on our shit list, our beef goes beyond the local media. It goes all the way to the top. Get ready for a mainstream media rant (MSM ... different from MSG but probably just as bad for your brain); but this time, find a safe place in a doorway somewhere ... we're talkin' earthquakes.

Wes Naman

The Duke City Derby rolls into town

Finally, the Midnight Rodeo is home to more than just cheap drinks and tipsy rancheros itchin' to break in their new Wranglers. As of October, the club opened its doors—and floors—to Duke City Derby (DCD), Albuquerque's first and only all-girl roller derby league.

The special session wraps up with a tidy sum slated for New Mexico's pockets

There was an aura of unreality to the entire special session of the Legislature which concluded last week. Pulling legislators back to Santa Fe for an upcoming emergency, just three months before they'd have to come to town for the regular session anyhow, was a stretch of imagination that many people never could manage.

A new voice in the abortion debate

If you listen to the abortion debate long enough, you'll hear pro-lifers accuse opponents of being “pro-abortion.” The pro-choice side bristles, “We're not pro-abortion; we merely want abortion to be safe, legal and rare.” Then they resume screaming at each other.

Scott Rickson

Dateline: Germany—Bulgarian Tihomir Titschko became the first European chess-boxing champion last week in Berlin. Chess boxing is described as the newest and most unlikely of “hybrid sports,” designed to test both brains and brawn. A typical match consists of up to 11 alternating rounds of boxing and “blitz” chess sessions. Boxing rounds last two minutes each, while the “blitz” chess style allows competitors 12 minutes on the clock before the match is over. The World Chess Boxing Organization, which trains several dozen boxers twice a week near its headquarters in Berlin, says combining the “No. 1 intellectual sport” with the “No. 1 fighting sport” offers a unique challenge. Although a chess-boxing contest can end with a knockout, the final match between Tihomir Titschko and Andreas Schneider, of Germany, ended with Scheider's concession. Schneider kept pace with Titschko into the seventh round, but his 12 minutes of chess time had nearly elapsed and his king and remaining pawns were in retreat. Chess boxing is the brainchild of Iepe Rubingh, 31, a Dutch artist who lives in Germany.

Letters